The Necro Job
by Catboytrades
Summary: A continuation of " The Dalla Incident". Grell has taken a job in a village of Necromancers to take out a rouge Necromancer.
1. Chapter 1

" I hate the undead." * Three Years before Dragonsridge*

One thing about the cold of the mountains and the northlands is that you can always put on another piece of clothing, toss on a fur from your pack, start a fire, or in extreme cases find a large animal cut it open and sleep the night away inside it... However the last option is a last resort, one does not want to meet a traveler on the road covered in blood and gore. The local law enforcers frown upon that, and usually you will end up in the local jail.

On the other hand, the heat of the deserts and the southlands are a different story. In the heat you can only take off so much until you are standing in just your soaked underclothes. Some go a bit farther but again if your found like that by fellow travelers you again will find yourself at the end of a sword or jailed by local law enforcers.

Which is why Grell liked to usually stay in the forests and the coolness of the lower mountain ranges.

But where Grell liked to be and where Grell was is not the same thing.

Grell found himself in a small village at the foot of a tall mountain. It was summer and the village was far enough south that Grell had kept most of his armor in the pack on his back, walking around in some loose clothes he had purchased on his way there. The merchant that sold them to him looked on him with pity.

He had arrived at her stall with his normal black studded leather armor and leather leggings, sweating and panting from the heat even though he had taken off his wool traveling cloak and his heavier clothing. She had asked him where he was headed and he told her. She laughed at him, telling him it was even warmer at his destination.

" Wearing your armor and clothing, dear Darkone." she smiled almost with deep worry for the man, " you will surely shrivel up and blow away in the wind from loosing you inner water to the heat." She then grabbed some very light clothing from the back of her stall, " I hope these fit." she laughed again.

Grell had waited to change into the clothing until he hit the crossroads to the Three main cities of the southlands. There he put on the clothing the woman had bundled for him and for the first time since walking down onto the plains... he sighed in relief. The cloth felt like he was wearing nothing at all, white with a little design on it in the form of a dragon circling the right sleeve. He enjoyed the ability to walk freely and without worrying about his body, as the woman had so colorfully put " shirvelling up and blowing away".

Now however at the gates to the village of Bena he could still feel the heat pound against his body. He did not know how people survived in this heat let alone need a Merc to do a job for them.

He shouted to a sentry that he requested entrance in which the sentry peered at him and then asked for a note or mark. Grell reached back and took off his pack and then began to rifle through it for the note requesting his services. The sentry watched him while another sentry came up from behind the two.

" What is going on Brother?" the second sentry asked the other.

" Asking for access to the village." the first sentry smiled, " I am asking for his proof."

The second sentry watched Grell and then slapped the first sentry hard behind the head, " Raul, let him in to see the Mayor now."

Raul, the first sentry, looked to the first and then nodded, " Sir it is alright... you may enter." Grell nodded, even though he had just found the message written to him. Tucking it back into the folds of his bag he stood up and followed the second sentry into the village.

" I am sorry about Raul." the second sentry spoke slowly as they walked towards the mountainside at the far side of the village. " He hasn't been on watch for long and he really dislikes Darkbloods."

Grell nodded. He had gotten that alot. He stood close to 6 feet 4 inches tall and had a horn that poked out from his cowl and curved behind his head. His skin had a bluish tint to it and now since he was not wearing his traveling cloak one could see a smallish tail behind the Darkblood. All of which would have been normal among his Darkblood brothers and sisters, but seemed strange to those that had not seen many of his kind.

The others in the village watched the two make their way through the dirt streets. Past homes made of wood and grasses, very different from the wood and stone homes of the mountains, or the canvas and reed huts of the plains. Still he had never been to this village, and he had no idea how the people had known about him. He was not well known... not like the legendary assasin he had heard about. One that could hide under a leaf during mid-day and slay his target with everyone watching without anyone noticing.

Grell winced and then remembered the price on his head from the city of Dalla. " Okay Grell." he thought to himself, " Quit thinking about that... a city like this probably heard about me from a traveler... " then he passed a small boy who ran into his home frightened. Someone knew about him and that sent a chill up his spine.

The Sentry led him to an opening in the side of the mountain, " Enter with me... our Mayor is inside." he smiled and walked into the torch lit darkness. Grell followed close behind.

" Watch yourself." a voice called out in the back of his head, " This is just like that time in Winstra." He shook his head clear, the voice had been his little warning signal for bad situations. Granted Grell had thought this was also another sign that maybe talking to himself was a bad idea.

As for Winstra, Grell had been led into a cave with the story that there was an undead creature inside. Grell went in. Found the creature was not undead but actually dead. He shook his head and began to walk back when his guide to the cave drew his sword. They had fought without a simple explanation but in the end Grell was able to disarm the man and crush his sword. His guide had been a bounty hunter that had the Mayor of Winstra get Grell Grainstaff to come to the city. Then the bounty hunter would kill Grell and collect the price in Dalla.

Grell squinted his good eye in the fading light, trying to focus on what was around him. So far it was just a passageway with doors every twenty to fourty paces. Torches were lit on the stone walls and he could feel a slight breeze comming from the darkness ahead. One that was scented with what was roasted meats and ..... Grell sniffed the air like a bloodhound. Roasted meats and perfumes....women's perfume.

Lucky for Grell his other senses were a little higher than normal. His eyes were weak, especially in the darkness of night. However his sense of touch, hearing, and smell had all enhanced over time... and sometimes he even felt like maybe... just maybe he could understand those around him from impressions of thoughts or energies... He had tested this last sense once before and ended up following a woman into a dark alley and was mugged. Lucky for him he had nothing of value other than Mugen, his short sword, Urd, his long sword, and his shield that was strapped to his back.

Suddenly the torch went out. " We are here." the sentry called out to the darkness.

" Told you." the voice in his head called out again, " Just like Winstra." 


	2. Chapter 2

" I hate undead"

Part 2: Why I hate undead

As the darkness surrounded Grell he felt back for his medium sword, Mugen, which he kept in a sheath under his traveling cloak. Takign the grip in his hand he tensed his body for any attack, but was not ready for the light that flooded the hall.

He blinked his eyes quickly, trying to let them focus to the bright white lights before him. His guide, the sentry, walked into the light and raised his hand.  
" No need to be on guard, sir." he then turned and walked into the light. Grell slowly followed the dark space the sentry left in the wake of the light. His mind still screaming this was a trap.

Slowly his eyes adjusted and he forcused on a large dark object in front of him. " I am having issues seeing... I need to be on guard." Grell growled as he rubbed his eyes and tried to focus.

" I am sorry, Lord Darkblood." the large object before him bellowed, " I love the light... it makes things warm... like fire." At this moment he could see a rather large man sitting in a chair surrounded by what looked like orbs of light. The orbs lit up his face and almost gave the man a godly appearence. However it also brought out the appearence of the woman beside him. Already he could see she was quite pale and her body moved stiffly.

" Why did you call me?" Grell asked bluntly as the man just basked in the warmth of the orbs around him.

The man smiled to Grell and reached up to the woman, carressing her cheek softly. The woman in turn smiled to him and leaned down to him. " I called you because I heard you killed Jal Fellis... and even though he had an army of those things he called Valdemar." He then brought his hand back and set it in his lap, the woman sat on his armrest and seemed pleased, " I needed someone that has delt with a necromancer before. Someone that would have no problems with the undead."

Grell felt uneasy. He did have problems with the undead. Infact he hated them. They would fall down and be dead and you would walk away... then they would show up again thanks to their master bringing them back again. He had been taking to burning the corpses.. but that didn't always work. He could remember a time that a mage helped him with some undead and he suggested they burn them... however they burned them inside the undead ward.. set that aflame so they had to deal with zombies that not only still had their weapons but were on fire.

" Darling... why dont' you go over by the lord Darkblood and show him how we treat travelers in our city." the man laughed. The woman nodded and stood up and staggered over to Grell.

Grell could smell a mildly unpleasent odor in the air as she came closer and without warning she lurched at him and kissed his lips. He held the kiss for a moment ( since this was the first woman he had kissed in nearly a year!) then after tasting the bile on her lips he pushed her back. " WHAT IS THIS?" he growled. His tongue slide along his lips to check for bite marks... and was grateful when he found none.

" What you don't like my darling's kisses?" he grinned, " she is very talented in other areas as well." Grell felt like he was going to be sick.

" She's undead!" Grell growled gripping Mugen again ready to take down the creature before him.

The man stood up slowly, an effort under his enormous girth. " Yes she is... I brought her to this state of being."

" She .... feels warm." Grell continued to back away from the advancing undead woman who did not have the look of something that wanted to kill him but one that had a much more carnal desire in mind.

The man nodded and pulled the zombie to him and hugged her softly as a lover. " Put a hot water bottle inside her and her body usually stays warm." His grin turned into a full toothy smile upon seeing Grell's blueish skin pale. " Darling wait for me in the bedroom." he whispered to the zombie. The sentry didn't seem to be effected by this. Granted living in this town he had probably seen it multiple times.

Grell loosened his grip on Mugen and straightened his body. " What is this job?" The darkblood didn't want to deal with this anymore.. he just wanted to get whatever he was doing in the swealtering heat done then leave to back to the northlands and the cold.

The man smiled, " Well I want you to go to the lake and I want you to kill the Troll necromancer there. He is trying to raise an army to kill this town."

Grell did not even bat an eyelash as he turned. The sentry went to the man and then after being given instructions went to Grell, " Sir... we are willing to pay."

" I know... I wouldn't of come this far to the south unless I was being paid... which you will pay for my audience here." he stopped and let out a deep growl. " I hate undead... and I will not get in the middle of some Necro war." He turned to the sentry. " Send a messanger to the cave just half a mile off the main road... I will be there... I want my money then I will leave... as per the other payment you were speaking of to do the job... I would recommend to use that to buy arms for this town."

The sentry nodded and then slowly walked back to the man, his master and regent of the town. Grell continued into the dark passageway and down out into the town. Some of the villagers watching him. They were all human... not one Troll, Ogre, Elf, or Darkblood among them. This kind of town really made him uneasy just due to the fact that villages like this usually would attack other peoples... and Grell did not wish to stay at their Inn and take that chance.

He walked out of the village and down along the road. He didn't want to leave the people to their own devices but sometimes this was needed. Two warring Necro's getting a village killed and Rezed was not a common thing but he had hear of wars starting for less.

As he crossed the plains he turned and saw a traveling party walk towards him. He waved to them to show that he was not a threat and showed his hands open. " Hail fellow travelers."

The travelers didn't respond. They continued their slow march... staggering .... lurching... moaning... growling...

Even though Grell's eyesight was poor he could easily smell decay wafting from this new group.

" Damn..... " Grell growled to himself before pulling Mugen from it's sheath and begining to attack the undead horde that was before him. 


	3. Chapter 3

Why I hate undead

Grell rushed towards the small group of traveling undead, no more than nine. He almost felt overwhelmed by the exact movements of the undead and how when he rushed them they did not react...

" STOP!" a voice behind the undead screamed. Grell continued his advance but noticed the undead stopped like a well formed army's unit. The undead kept their eyes forward and did not move, even as a young woman walked out of their ranks and turned to the charging Darkblood.

" WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!!!" she roared at the now confused darkblood. Grell slowed and came to a jog as he neared the woman and the undead. Then without warning tripped on a stone protruding from the road and stumbled. The woman stared daggers at him and he did not really know what to say.

" Who are you?" she asked reaching back as an undead passed up a staff of some kind. " Speak before I kill you."

Grell straighted himself and slowly sheathed Mugen, his short sword, in the sheath on his hip. " I am Grell Grainstaff... who are you?"

She looked him over and then sniffed the air, " Why do you ask, demon?" She gripped the staff tight and sneered, " Do you wish me ill?"

Grell felt like nodding then reaching out and touching her arm or bare hand... the let her be ill. But he chose not to. Not because she had the undead behind her... or that she was a powerful enough Necromancer that she could control them all, but because his mother had instilled in him to be as a galant knight to women he met. No matter how illtempered or boarish they may be.

" I ask because I spoke my own name in fellowship and goodwill to you. I would only ask the same." he answered trying to keep the growl and anger out of his voice.

" I am Roe." she handed her staff back to the undead that had given it to her, " I was a resident of this town... left for a few years and have come back to see my kin."

" With undead in tow?"

" They are my servants. They do what I need them to do. Then I put them to rest when I am done." she raised her eyebrow, " Such is what a Necromancer does."

He nodded then shuffled uneasy on his feet, " I do apologize for rushing your group." He didn't think he had to apologize but he did anyways. " I thought you were... another."

" Another?" she asked, " You mean you don't know?" she asked him a grin creeping into place on her face.

" Know?" He felt like a grand joke had been played on him. The laughter of the old woman that sold him the light summer clothes rung in his mind. " Know what?"

She pointed to the village and smiled, " Those that live in the town are mostly Necromancers. Didn't you know that?"

He shook his head, " No... no one told me."

She laughed out loud, " Boy... who hired you?" Grell didn't answer but pulled out the letter and handed it to her, making sure not to touch her bare hand with his. She read it slowly and then after a few moments she shook her head. Her grin faded and she returned to her grim appearence when he had first spoke to her. " You did not take the job?"

Grell shook his head.

" Why not?" she asked.

Grell thought about the undead woman kissing him... and the large mayor that made the references about keeping his undead lover warm... it made his skin crawl. " I am a Merc... I can choose if I take a job."

She looked him over again. " You have one horn demon. I think I have heard of you."

" Many of my race have one horn." he growled, " We come in many varieties."

" Have you been to Dalla?" she asked her eyes narrowing.

" I have been there once." he met her gaze and didn not flinch, " Why do you ask?"

She smiled, " Do you have the shield still?" she asked as she slid a hand down her left thigh. To anyone else this would be a semi erotic scene, to a Merc like Grell this ment she was going for a dagger or some hidden weapon... his grip tightened on Mugen and he got ready to bring it out at a moments notice.

However she pulled out a small note and handed it to him, " From Faun, daughter of Cleo."

He took the note and read it slowly, then afterwards nodded, " Why did she give this to you?" he asked very suspicious of this woman.

Roe shrugged, " The girl came to me when I was studying a wanted poster. Said that the man in the poster was a friend." she made a small gesture towards Grell, " She was talking about you. She told me what happened...or what she knew of what happened and then handed me that letter. she said do not look at it... it is for the man with one horn that saved Dalla. She told me I would meet him near my home."

Grell thought back to little Faun and her mother Cleo... of the matter at Dalla and the crime in which put the price on his head. " I am glad she is doing well." He forced a smile and placed the note into his money pouch and then hid it on his person. He did not know how Faun knew where he was.. granted some of his people were given some of their bloodlines gifts... but those were very sparse.

Roe then nodded, " Well then. You are leaving right? I need to pass to head home." Grell nodded and stepped aside. " Will you take the job?"

Grell shut his eyes, " I am going up to a cave along the road... I need to think... then maybe I will give an answer."

" I will be up around moonrise with some ale from the tavern. You can tell me your answer." She smiled then called out, " COME!" The undead then picked up their march and followed their Mistress to the town.

Grell Watched her for a few moments before turning and starting towards the cave. He retrieved the note from Faun again and re-read it. " Mr. Grainstaff... I am glad your alright. Take care in the south. We are trying to get the bounty off you. Hope to see you soon, Faun."

He smiled and placed it back into his money pouch and then hid it again. Moonrise was a long time off and he needed to catch himself his dinner. 


	4. Chapter 4

I hate undead....

The fire didn't help the heat that washed into the cave later in the day. Grell groaned in agony as he was sitting in just his underpants cooking a rabbit he caught in the underbrush. His hope was that the night would dissappate the heat enough so he could greet his visitor in clothes that were not soaked with sweat.

After his meal he burned the remains of the creature and doused the fire.... sitting in the darkness and thinking. His mind wandering to Roe and the village. He did not know of villages that speciallized in magics... especially human villages. And Especially not Necromancers...

He shivered and noticed the sun was gone from the sky and the chill of the night air was entering the cave. Quickly he dressed and left the cave to stretch his body. It had been to hot during the day to work out and he looked over the horizon for the moon. Seeing that the moon had not risen he pulled Mugen, his medium sword, from his hip sheath and began to practice fighting... visualizing zombies... hacking at them... until he started replacing the zombies... with the creatures that Jal Fellis had made back in Dalla... the Valdemar....

His eye opened wide and he, for a moment, forgot he was fighting specters created in his mind. It wasn't until Mugen sliced a tree trunk down the middle that he stopped... his heart beating hard, not with fatigue and exhertion, but with fear...

He again looked up into the sky... he still could not see the moon. Taking this as a much needed chance to bathe he went to the river and doused himself quickly then made his way back to the cave. As he neared it he could see the flickering of firelight comming from the mouth of the cave. His ears perked up as he cautiously made his way around the cave entrance, he could hear a woman humming a song slowly to herself. He peered inside and found Roe sitting by the fire... humming and tending the flame as he sat with two tankards of ale sitting beside her.

" Thought you were comming at Moonrise?" He asked her his shirt was off but he had made sure to keep his cowel on his face.

Roe turned to see him enter and blushed slightly seeing him without a shirt. " I left before Moonrise... I am sorry the undead walk slower so I judge how long it will take me to walk somewhere by their pace."

Grell nodded and placed Mugen in his travel bag and sat across from Roe, sitting close and letting the cool water still on his body dry from the heat of the fire. Roe reached out to him and handed him a tankard of ale, which he took and drank slowly. He didn't say anything until he had drained his ale down to half of it's orginal contents.

" I usually don't drink." he finally spoke, " but this is good ale"  
Roe smiled, " My father's undead make it for him." At this Grell could feel the bile rise in his throat... Roe must of noticed and sighed, " What?"

" I don't like undead." he groaned staring at the rest of the ale in his mug, " Really started to hate them after Dalla."

Roe didn't respond. She just stared at the fire.

" Why don't you people call them zombies?" he asked as the wood popped in the fire.

" Zombies are seen as a negative thing... we." she stopped and coughed, " We call them undead to make the children understand that the undead that we have are fine... those zombies out in the wilds are not and should be feared."

Grell still felt queasy at the thought of growing up with a zombie pet... " So are they your own dead or do you take from other's graves?"

She smiled, " I go to the families I want to use their dead as my servants and pay them well before raising them." She finished her ale, " I also make sure not to do anything to them that I would not want to see my own family have done to them." She then added, " Why do you think that we do nothing but make the undead do what we wish... be our slaves? If they make enough money I buy them life potions and if the family wants them back I bring them back with the money they help me raise."

Grell just nodded, " Okay... but tell me the undead that made this ale wore gloves... "

She let out a soft giggle at this and nodded, " No one wants a piece of the brewer in the beer."

Grell still took a while to finish his ale. They talked a bit more... he told her the complete story of his time at Dalla and of his journeys afterwards, and then of the man and his undead concubine. She had explained the ways of the village, how they rose the dead many decades before to help with the fields when many died due to a sickness, how that spread so that many people became Necromancers to create undead of their own.

She also told him of the wars that were fought between the more powerful undead. Then the final battle where a raiding party of humans and trolls that tried to attack the village, were fended off by the undead. How necromancy was now regulated through their village and how they tried to spread their way of necromancy.

Grell had listened to half of this before falling asleep sitting up against the side of the cave. Roe had long since finished her tale when she noticed his soft snoring and left the sleeping darkblood alone.

***********************************************************************

Grell got up the next day and walked to the village, entering slowly with a sentry, and finally meeting the mayor again. The undead woman was still at his side and she was sporting a less than totally sheer dress.

" So did you rethink your choice?" the mayor sneered, " Will you help us." His concubine lay at his feel and nuzzeled the mayor like a kitten.

" Double the price.... I will need help." he growled, obviously not happy with how things were looking at this moment. " I want Roe, the necromancer girl to help me."

The mayor nodded, " Take her... but if she comes back harmed we will kill you and make your corpse a love doll for some of our more" He grinned wide and bared his teeth, " more delicate men."

Grell nodded and turned. His mind was racing over things about what supplies he needed for the job then realized he had not asked for the supplies to be used. " By the four Gods!" he growled to himself before entering the sunlight.

Roe was standing waiting for him, " So?" she asked.

" You come with me and you get half the money." he continued to walk past her, " We leave now." She nodded and followed him towards the village gates. 


End file.
